It has been revealed that the cost of the bearskin caps worn by the King’s Guards when on ceremonial duty has soared recently from £1,560 each in 2022 to £2,040 in 2023. Figures released show that over £1 million has been spent on these tall, distinctive head-dresses over the past decade and questions are being asked whether this is a good way to spend taxpayers’ money as the defence budget faces further cuts. At the same time there are renewed calls from animal rights movement PETA that the Guards shouldn’t be wearing the pelts of “slaughtered” animals in this day and age and more appropriate and politically correct alternative materials should be used instead.
The MoD has stated that it’s open to replacing the bear fur with “faux fur” if it proves to be up to the job and maintains the Guards’ smart appearance on showcase military occasions. I have no strong view here, and would be quite happy for a more ethical substitute to be adopted.
Hoots of laughter are echoing around the defence community at the news that the Royal Marines are to change the traditional names of their training exercises, used year after year, because they are “too aggressive and sexual”. Thus Exercise Direct Action will become Exercise Dragon Warrior from now on, while Exercises Final Thrust and Violent Entry will henceforth be known as Exercises Commando Forge and Green Salamander respectively. Such woke and right-on actions are Monty Python-esque in their stupidity and suggest that the Marines are more interested in getting their DEI policies right than they are in prioritising closing and dealing with the King’s enemies.
The Royal Marines are one of the UK’s true elite military units and are trained to defend the nation’s interests in the most adverse circumstances. To visit this sort of nonsense upon their training exercises is arrant idiocy. To quote Winston Churchill: “We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm”. We should not be infantilising their efforts in such a manner.
U.S. and Britain Set to Unleash Weaponry Arsenal in Ukraine—Putin’s Nightmare Unfolds!
At long last the USA and Britain look likely to relax the restrictions on weaponry they have supplied to Ukraine. Up until now some systems have been restricted to being used only in Russia-occupied Ukraine, including Crimea, and the international waters of the Black Sea. This applies particularly to the 190-mile range US ATACMS ballistic missile and the 155-mile range Storm Shadow/SCALP cruise missiles, which will be able, all things being equal, to strike into mainland Russia.
The effect of this will be to push the bases from which Russia has been mounting its own missile and glide bomb attacks against Ukraine further back into the Russian hinterland, and also to bring many more ammunition and logistic facilities within range. This being the case, Ukraine will gain more warning time to react and defeat Russian air-launched assaults, which will be a major improvement for their air defences. The lifting of restrictions has been the topic of pleas from President Zelensky to the Americans for many months and a subject much discussed in western corridors of power.
Personally I think the ban should been lifted long ago, but the catalyst for this welcome if tardy western actions seems to have been Iran’s recent supply of 200 ballistic missiles to Russia. Putin and the Russian people will accordingly be brought ever closer to the front line of their illegal, unprovoked, and aggressive war in Ukraine.
Lt Col Stuart Crawford is a defence analyst and former army officer. Sign up for his podcasts and newsletters at www.DefenceReview.uk
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